Darlene Polachic is a freelance writer in Saskatoon. She writes regularly for the Religion page on the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. The articles that appear here all appeared in the Star Phoenix on the dates indicated. In a very few cases, the articles have been edited for inclusion on this website. Generally the articles appeared as posted in this website. Photographs that accompanied the original articles have not been included.

Windows To The East, an annual public lecture series on Eastern Christianity, will take place Thursday and Friday at St. Thomas More College.

Dr. Myroslaw Tataryn, associate professor of religious studies at University of Saskatchewan, is one of the organizers. As he explains, Windows To The East is part of an on-going lecture series that began seven years ago.

“It was a time in the life of the Eastern Christian community of Saskatoon where people were beginning to express a desire to come together and discuss their common historic religious traditions,” he said.

Tataryn says the first event proved to be successful “in helping people within the Eastern Christian community to overcome boundaries and borders and discover not only the historic phenomenon but identify how it is significant in the lives of people today.”

The sponsoring body of Windows To The East includes eight Saskatoon Orthodox and Catholic church parishes as well as the Saskatoon Centre for Ecumenism, Saskatoon Theological Union, St. Thomas More College, and the Department of Religious Studies.

The topic this year is Eastern Christianity in a Post-Modern World, and Tataryn says it will examine what the religious tradition of Eastern Christianity has to offer humanity in the new age.

Usually Windows To The East features two speakers — one Orthodox, one Catholic. This year will be different in that neither of the speakers is technically a theologian.

Rev. Dr. Anthony Ugolnik is a professor of English literature and culture at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania. He is also an Orthodox priest who served as a U.S. Army trauma medic during the Vietnam War. Tataryn says Ugolnik is very effective in relating his main academic work as a student of culture and language to fundamental theological questions. “He shows that Eastern Christianity is not to be seen as something from the past, but a dynamic and valuable response to many of the concerns of post- modernity.”

The second presenter is Marianna Savaryn, an Edmonton iconographer and artist who will explain how she uses her art to express her theology. She says: “In iconography, I have discovered not only a vocation that allows me to practice what was closest to my heart, but a means of fulfilling my spiritual needs, as well.” She says iconography furnishes her mind with visual prayer. “It is a way of sharing good thoughts with the world. It is the words and deeds of Our Lord put to image.”

In addition to their presentations each evening, there will be a panel of representatives from the various city parishes, and the floor will be open to questions.

Lectures begin at 7 p.m. each evening, and lecture topics include: Orthodoxy and the Politically Correct, Living in Skin — Human Embodiment as a Key Element of Eastern Christianity, and Being an Iconographer: Faith, Art, Theology.